Things to Do in Trastevere Rome
Trastevere is best known for its tables, but it also holds a Raphael villa, two great basilicas, a hilltop cannon and Rome's best-known Sunday market. Most of them keep short hours, so it pays to know them before you plan the day. Booking a food tour trastevere for the evening? Fill the morning from this list.
| Sight | What it is | Hours | Ticket | On a tour? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Villa Farnesina | Renaissance villa frescoed by Raphael | Mon–Sat 9:00–14:00, last entry 13:15; second Sunday 9:00–17:00 | €12; €10 reduced; €7 ages 10–18 | Entry included on the private Farnesina walk |
| Santa Maria in Trastevere | The quarter's basilica, with Cavallini's mosaics | Check the notice at the door | Check the notice at the door | Passed or visited on most walks |
| Santa Cecilia in Trastevere | Basilica with Maderno's statue and a Cavallini fresco | Mon–Sat 10:00–12:30 and 16:30–18:30 | No fee figure on its hours page | Entry included on the private Farnesina walk |
| The Gianicolo | Hill with the terrace view and the noon cannon | Open ground; the cannon fires at noon | Free | A stop on the sidecar rides and the driver day |
| Museo di Roma in Trastevere | The city museum of Roman everyday life | Tue–Sun 10:00–20:00; closed Mondays | €9.50 museum only; €13 with an exhibition | Not in any fare |
| Porta Portese | Rome's best-known Sunday flea market | Sundays, stalls 7:00–14:00 | Free | Not in any fare |
| San Francesco a Ripa | Church with Bernini's Ludovica Albertoni | Check the notice at the door | Check the notice at the door | The twilight food walk uses its street |
Where a cell says “check the notice at the door”, go by what the building posts on the day rather than a number from a third-party list.
Villa Farnesina: Raphael's Galatea
Villa Farnesina was built around 1506 to 1510 by Baldassarre Peruzzi for Agostino Chigi, a Sienese banker. Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, Il Sodoma and Peruzzi himself painted its rooms. Raphael's Triumph of Galatea is the one you come for. The Farnese bought the villa in 1579; today it belongs to the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.
The early closing matters. If you want to see the frescoes, go in the morning. The private walk that includes the villa starts at its gate, and you should book its morning slot.
Santa Maria in Trastevere and its piazza
Tradition dates the church to Pope Callixtus I, in the third century. The building you enter is Innocent II's rebuilding of 1138 to 1143. Look up at the apse for Pietro Cavallini's mosaics of the Life of the Virgin, from 1291. The gold on the facade catches the evening light over the piazza.
Opening times can change for services, so check the notice at the door before you plan around a visit. The piazza itself is always open. Sit on the fountain steps after your tour and you will see the whole quarter walk past.
Santa Cecilia: the statue, the crypt and the Cavallini
On the quieter side of the Viale, Santa Cecilia holds Stefano Maderno's marble statue of the saint, carved in 1600. Beneath the church are excavations you can visit. Upstairs, in the nuns' choir, is Cavallini's Last Judgment fresco. It keeps shorter hours than the church, so time your visit for the morning.
| Santa Cecilia | Weekdays (Mon–Sat) | Holidays |
|---|---|---|
| Basilica and excavations | 10:00–12:30 and 16:30–18:30 | 11:30–12:30 and 16:30–18:30 |
| Cavallini fresco | 10:00–12:30 | 11:30–12:30 |
The monastery's hours page gives no fee figure for the crypt or the fresco. Bring a few euro in coins and ask when you arrive.
The Gianicolo, the noon cannon and the Fontanone
Climb behind Trastevere and you reach the Gianicolo, with the best view over Rome's domes. Every day at noon a cannon fires below the Garibaldi monument. The custom began under Pius IX to set the city's clocks, and the cannon has fired from here since 24 January 1904. It stopped during the Second World War and resumed on 21 April 1959. Be there five minutes early.
On the way up you pass the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola, which Romans call il Fontanone. Paul V commissioned it, and it was built between 1610 and 1614 to end the restored Acqua Paola aqueduct. Bramante's Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio is close by, but check its own hours before you detour.
Museo di Roma in Trastevere
A small city museum in Piazza di Sant'Egidio, a minute from Santa Maria. It holds the city's collections on Roman popular life and hosts changing exhibitions. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 20:00, with last entry an hour before closing. It closes on Mondays, 1 May and 25 December.
The ticket is €9.50 for the museum alone, €5 reduced. With an exhibition on, you pay €13 full and €8.50 reduced. Booking online adds €1. It is a good place to spend an hour when the afternoon is too hot for walking.
Porta Portese on a Sunday morning
Every Sunday, Rome's best-known flea market fills the streets south of the quarter, between Via Carlo Porta and Via Pascarella. Under the city rules in force since 21 January 2024, the stalls trade between 7:00 and 14:00. You will find clothes, old cameras, books and a lot of junk.
Go early, before ten, when it is cooler and the good stalls have not sold out. Keep your wallet in a front pocket: it is very crowded. Then walk back into Trastevere for lunch.
San Francesco a Ripa's Bernini
A short walk from Santa Cecilia, the church of San Francesco a Ripa holds one of Bernini's late sculptures, the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni. It was commissioned in 1671 and in place by 1674. You find it in a side chapel. The twilight food walk goes down Via di San Francesco a Ripa, so you can find the church again the next morning.
Which tours go inside what
Most Trastevere tours are about food, and they do not buy you an entry anywhere. A few do. Use this table to avoid paying twice for the same ticket.
| What you go inside | Which tour includes it | What you pay separately |
|---|---|---|
| Villa Farnesina and Santa Cecilia | Private walk with Villa Farnesina and Santa Cecilia | Nothing for those two |
| The Catacombs of San Sebastiano | Private driver day with hotel pickup | Nothing for the catacombs |
| The Pantheon | The morning and afternoon Vespa sidecar rides | Nothing for the Pantheon |
| The Great Synagogue | No tour | The Jewish Museum ticket, bought yourself |
| Museo di Roma in Trastevere | No tour | The museum ticket |
| Colosseum | No tour enters it; the 90-minute sidecar ride and the Fiat 500 ride stop outside for photos | A Colosseum ticket, bought yourself |
Rather have someone take you inside?
The private Farnesina walk includes both entries, and the history walks explain what you pass from outside.
Next: learn how the quarter fits together on the Trastevere neighborhood, plan getting there with visiting Trastevere, or compare every fare on Trastevere Rome Tours.